Deletion of Any Single Gene Provokes Mutations Elsewhere in the Genome – “Johns Hopkins researchers report that the deletion of any single gene in yeast cells puts pressure on the organism’s genome to compensate, leading to a mutation in another gene…. ‘The deletion of any given gene usually results in one, or sometimes two, specific genes being “warped” in response….'”

Europeans and South Asians share by descent SLC24A5 light skin allele – “‘We date the coalescence of the light skin associated allele at 22–28 KYA. Both our sequence and genome-wide genotype data confirm that this gene has been a target for positive selection among Europeans. However, the latter also shows additional evidence of selection in populations of the Middle East, Central Asia, Pakistan and North India but not in South India.'” – @dienekes’.

The ancestors with no descendants – “On the eve of the last ice age, Siberia was home to a people who were related to modern Europeans and Amerindians but not to modern native Siberians. So concludes an analysis of DNA from the remains of a boy who lived 24,000 years ago at Mal’ta near Lake Baikal, Siberia…. [T]he Mal’ta people probably looked very much like native Indians with a more European skull shape, perhaps like the Ainu of northern Japan or the Kennewick humans of North America.”

Political colour is half genetic – “New study provides definitive evidence that heritability plays a significant role in the formation of political ideology, regardless of how ideology is measured, the time period or population sampled.” – @ScienceNordic.com – the photo caption is pretty funny/telling: “Imagine if scientists could identify the ‘liberal’ genes and genetically modify babies so that they all voted liberal when they grow up? Brave new world?” (and the first comment is priceless!) – h/t ray sawhill!

It’s not just conservatives that support discrimination against their ideological foes – “‘Discrimination by liberals has received scant attention in the literature, despite this being a prevalent concern in conservative rhetoric. By only examining conservative biases, social scientists fail to fully explore political intolerance in America. This research helps fill that gap….’ When opposing groups were seen as violating core values, liberals were just as likely to support discrimination against same-sex marriage opponents, religious fundamentalists, Tea Party protestors, and prolife people as were conservatives against feminists, atheists, leftist protestors, and prochoice people.”

Study: Your brain sees things you don’t – “Our brains perceive objects in everyday life of which we may never be aware, a study finds, challenging currently accepted models about how the brain processes visual information.”

Religions of the American Nations – “[T]hese differences [regional cultural and political divisions in america] stem from the *genetic* differences in the descendants of these initial settlers (suffused with the genes of subsequent immigrants, particularly in the old North).” – from jayman.

In Hookups, Inequality Still Reigns – “[A] study of 24,000 students at 21 colleges over five years found that about 40 percent of women had an orgasm during their last hookup involving intercourse, while 80 percent of men did.” – h/t john durant!

The Co-Villains Behind Obesity’s Rise – “Not everyone, however, has the same gut bacteria. And, interestingly, the composition of this bacteria correlates with obesity…. [T]he bacteria study found that the ‘obese gut bacteria’ had an impact only when the mice were fed diets heavy in saturated fats.” – h/t jayman!

Rich Chinese Couples Turning To American Surrogates For Easier Immigration And ‘Designer Babies’ – “Another factor that has some Chinese couples choosing American surrogates is a desire for ‘designer babies.’ While most couples still use their own eggs and sperm, making the child biologically theirs, Reuters reports that more and more people are open to egg donation, to get what some clients believe are smarter and better-looking children. ‘Lots of clients that are Chinese do use tall, blond donors,’ Jennifer Garcia, who works at Extraordinary Conception in California, where 40 percent of clients are Chinese, said in the report.” – h/t mark krikorian!

Should state education be abolished? – “New York City adopting Finland’s education system is not going to make New York like Finland…. In the game of life the dice are loaded and trying to make teachers responsible for making life fair is deluded and unfair to them….” – from ed west.

John Derbyshire’s Modest Proposal On Politics and Intelligence – “And the too-dumb-to-vote segment is only a part of the problem we conservatives have with universal suffrage. Here’s another part: too *smart* to vote…. At the very highest levels of intelligence, the correlation between IQ and sensible political opinions may actually be *inverse*: the more brilliant you are, the dumber your politics. Albert Einstein thought well of Stalin; Hitlerism got its first mass following in the highly-selective German universities.”

bonus: Another Word for “Holocaust” – “[O]ne would have to be smoking banana peels dipped in formaldehyde and sprinkled with PCP to assert that both events [the holocaust and the holodomor] receive a similar amount of attention in Western media and academia.” – from jim goad. of course.

bonus bonus: Swedish cinemas launch feminist movie rating – hahahahahaha!!! heh. wait. (*hbd chick wipes tears from eyes*) heh. – “To get an ‘A’ rating, a movie must pass the so-called Bechdel test, which means it must have at least two named female characters who talk to each other about something other than a man….” – hahahahahaha!! – “The entire ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy, all ‘Star Wars’ movies, ‘The Social Network,’ ‘Pulp Fiction’ and all but one of the ‘Harry Potter’ movies fail this test,” – so, except for The Social Network, all of my faves. this is going to be a REALLY handy movie rating system. whatever movies they FAIL, i will go see! (^_^)

bonus bonus bonus: Strange Doings on the Sun – “Sunspots, Which Can Harm Electronics on Earth, Are Half the Number Expected” – ruh roh.